


you know all the moves (‘cause it’s our dance)

by agreattimetobealive



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, F/M, Song Battles, dance-flirting, just straight up flirt-flirting, lol glee, season 2 fic, serenades, song-flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-21
Updated: 2018-02-21
Packaged: 2019-03-21 19:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13747713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agreattimetobealive/pseuds/agreattimetobealive
Summary: Brittany remembers that sometimes songs have hidden meanings or like, mean different things than what the lyrics are saying. Listening to music has gotten so much harder since she joined glee club.Santana and Artie compete for Brittany's affections through song, and Brittany is more confused than usual.Brittany/Santana, with mentions of Brittany/Artie.





	you know all the moves (‘cause it’s our dance)

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place after Blame It On the Alcohol. Title from Make a New Dance Up by Hey Ocean!  
> (This started out as my way of fixing up the Britt/Artie/Santana love triangle, but then glee actually did a good thing with Sexy (in terms of brittana) and I forgot about it for a while, and then a couple of years ago it became the thing I worked on when I was feeling blocked on everything else and. What I'm saying is this was written over like six years??? and is probably as inconsistent and badly characterized as...Glee. But I love my girl Brittany and it was fun to write her pov so here we are.)

**Monday: Clumsy 'Cause I'm Falling in Love**

It's first thing Monday morning, and Brittany is staring helplessly into her locker, trying to locate her Chemistry book when Santana bounces up to her.

“Hey Britt!” she says cheerfully. “Guess who's single again?”

“Um....Rachel?” Brittany guesses, pushing aside a pile of papers on her locker's top shelf. There's an assignment she was supposed to hand in three months ago, but no books.

Santana laughs loudly, but Brittany wasn't joking; that was a real guess, and like, a good one.

“No, I said single _again,_ not _still_.” Santana clarifies at Brittany's blank look.

“Oh.” Brittany says, and then she gets it. “OH! You broke up with Sam?”

“Mmhm,” Santana nods. “At first, his big mouth was a total turn-on, but then I started to get worried that he was going to swallow my whole head.”

Brittany nods; that seems like a valid fear.

“Anyway,” Santana continues, “so I broke up with him, and now I think you should break up with Artie!”

Brittany frowns at her best friend. Where did _that_ come from? “But I really like Artie!” she protests quietly.

“I've noticed.” Santana rolls her eyes. “But, okay, think about how awesome it'd be if we both ditched the boys; we could rule this school! No, screw that, we'd rule this whole stupid _town._ We're not Cheerios anymore, Britt. I don't wanna be just the hottest girls in glee, dating some _glee boys_. We can do better than that.”

Brittany is confused. “But Artie and Sam are both football players, so isn't that cool? And I thought we...you know,” she lowers her voice to a whisper, just in case it's still a secret, _“liked_ glee club now?”

Santana makes a disapproving noise and shakes her head, but Brittany's not sure which of her questions she's disagreeing _with,_ which doesn't help her out at all.

“Just think about it BrittBritt. You break up with Artie, and we can do our thing.”

“Okay, I'll think about it,” Brittany agrees immediately, since she likes when her and Santana “do their thing”. That's one thing she's totally _not_ confused about. And then she remembers her current problem - “Hey, San, have you seen my Chemistry book?”

Santana shakes her head fondly. “You don't even take Chem, Britt.”

Oh. Well, that solves _that,_ then. Brittany shuts her locker, thinking about Santana and Artie and doing _things_ as the girls head off to their classes.

*

English goes by quickly, and then math, which Brittany has without Santana, and then the next time Brittany sees her best friend, it's Spanish class before lunch. They're supposed to be reading their textbooks silently while Mr. Schue goes and makes some photocopies, but as soon as he leaves the room, conversations break out and Santana twists around in her chair to face Brittany.

“Did you break up with him yet?” she asks.

Brittany pouts a little. Usually, she follows Santana's lead on things, out of best friend loyalty and also the fact that Brittany hates making decisions, but this seems...different. She really _likes_ Artie, and likes being his girlfriend, and she's also not really sure how breaking up with him will make her and Santana more popular. It seems like she'll just have one less person to hang out with. And that's bad, right?

Santana must sense her hesitation, because she says, “Come _on,_ what's so great about dating Artie, anyway?”

Brittany can think of lots of reasons, like how he's always really polite to Lord Tubbington, or how he _never_ calls her stupid even though she doesn't understand any of the movies he wants to watch. He spent five hours with her one weekend, trying to explain _Inception_ and didn't even laugh when she kept asking if it was a sequel to _Titanic._ She knows Santana won't think those are valid reasons though, so she shrugs and says, “He's a really good kisser, and sometimes he sings me songs. That's sweet.”

Santana scoffs. “I bet I'm a _better_ kisser.” Which...okay, that's true. She can't help but smile at Santana. “And I can sing you songs, Britt! In fact, I'll sing you a song _today._ I told you, we don't need any boys.”

Brittany nods, but still isn't sure, and Santana's looking at her waiting for a response. Luckily Mr. Schue comes back into the room and starts handing out worksheets and Santana turns back around.

Brittany stares at the back of her head, at her dark hair falling in waves down her back. The last time Santana declared 'We don't need boys! They're all so stupid!', it lasted for four days before Puck took her to Breadstix and apologized for whatever it was that pissed her off and they made up and had make-up sex. And then Santana remembered that there _is_ something she likes boys for.

But, still, four days.

Four days of Santana sleeping in Brittany's bed and waking her up in the morning by pressing soft kisses to the corner of Brittany's mouth.

Brittany bites her lip, thinking hard. She glances down at her notebook, at all the doodles on the front: Artie's name and little hearts. Guiltily, she slides her textbook over top to cover it up, and then spends the rest of class tuning Mr. Schue out and watching the clouds move across the sky outside the window.

*

After school, in glee club, Mr. Schue has just started talking about their assignment for the week when Santana stands up at the back of the classroom.

“Mr. Schue!” she calls, interrupting him. “Can you stop blabbing about Regionals or whatever for a second, I have a song I want to sing. Right now.”

Mr. Schue beams. “That's a very Rachel-like request, Santana!” Rachel, in the front row, makes a face and an exasperated sound but Mr. Schue ignores it. “How exciting, go ahead.”

The class looks around as Santana makes her way to the front of the class and grabs a mic. “This is for Brittany!” she says, pointing at Britt in the front row next to Artie. “She knows why.”

Santana nods to the band guys, and they start to play (further confirming Brittany's suspicions that they can read _minds),_ and Santana sings Clumsy by Fergie. Santana sounds beautiful, and she's smiling sweetly at Brittany the whole time. When she's done, Brittany leaps to her feet, clapping as hard as she can, and the rest of the glee club slowly join in too.

“That was great, Santana!” Mr. Schue waves her back to her seat, and then he talks about song choices or something for the rest of the meeting. Brittany doesn't listen. She keeps twisting in her seat to look back at Santana, and her best friend just grins at her.

*

After glee lets out, when Brittany and Artie are heading to their lockers, he asks her, “Hey, Britt, do you...you _do_ know what that song meant, right?”

Brittany's not sure that the song meant anything, because Santana said she was going to sing her a song, and then she _did,_ so that's that, right? But _then_ Brittany remembers that sometimes songs have hidden meanings or like, mean different things than what the lyrics are saying. Listening to music has gotten so much harder since she joined glee club. Sometimes she misses thinking of songs as either “things she can dance to” or “things she _can't_ dance to”. She bites her lip and tries to remember the lyrics to Santana's song.

“Brittany, hey?” Artie asks, tugging on her hand, and Brittany realizes he's waiting for her to answer.

“I might know?” she says. “But I'm not sure.”

Artie sighs. Brittany has noticed that he sighs a lot when they talk about Santana.

“I think,” he says, and then hesitates. “IthinkSantana'sinlovewithyou,” he says really fast.

Brittany nods, wondering if Artie is just figuring that out now. She's known that since the fourth grade, about as long as she's known that _she_ loves _Santana._ That was the year they made each other friendship bracelets and wore them until they fell off.

Artie tries again. “I think she wants to date you.”

So Brittany explains that her and Santana have gone on _lots_ of dates, like millions really, sometimes with Puck or another one of the football players, or with other guys from school, or older guys who buy them beer if they get to watch Brittany and Santana make out a bit. Mr. Kidney always keeps tequila in his janitor's closet for that very reason.

“No, that's... _really_ creepy, but not what I mean, Brittany.” Artie seems a little exasperated, which is silly, because he's the one who doesn't understand, not Brittany. “I think Santana wants to date _you._ And maybe only you?”

“But I'm dating you,” Brittany says slowly, figuring she shouldn't mention that Santana wants them to break up. “And plus, Santana always says that mahogany is stupid.”

Artie looks stressed. “I'm pretty sure you mean monogamy?”

“Sure, that,” Brittany says, taking Artie's hand again. What's with all of the _conversation_ all of a sudden? Brittany is not a fan. Normally, both Santana and Artie would rather kiss than talk. Suddenly, everybody wants to discuss all this stuff, and frankly, it's making Brittany's head hurt. “Let's go back to my place and take our clothes off,” she whispers to Artie, and he stutters a bit before quickly agreeing, and Brittany's pretty sure he's not thinking about Santana anymore.

She's also pretty sure he doesn't know that she kind of _is._

 

**Tuesday: That Girl's a Genius**

Brittany manages to dodge all of Santana's questions about Artie the next day, mostly by pretending she doesn't understand what's going on (which is mostly true), or changing the subject to how hot Santana looks (which is so _totally_ true). Artie doesn't bring up any relationship stuff when she sees him either, and she's starting to think she's in the clear. But then Artie isn't waiting by her locker after classes end the next day, so Brittany walks to Glee practice alone and Artie is already there, huddled in the corner with Puck, intently discussing something. It's strange, but she sits down next to Tina and waits for him to wheel over.

When Mr. Schue comes in, Artie puts both his hands in the air. “Mr. Schue!” he yells. “I'm going to do a song, okay?”

“You guys are so enthusiastic this semester, we're really getting into the right gear for Regionals! Let's see what you've got, Artie.” Mr. Schue waves him to the front of the room.

Artie rolls to the front of the room, Puck following him. “Puck's going to help me out,” he says, as they grab their guitars. “This is a song for Brittany.”

Puck and Artie break out into She's a Genius by Jet, and Brittany bounces in her seat. She loves this song – she can dance to it and Artie sounds so good; she even listens to the lyrics and is fairly confident that this is a song about how Artie thinks she's smart, it's not even _that_ hard to figure out.

Brittany starts to think that maybe she should sing a song, for Santana and Artie, because being serenaded is super fun. She can make them sit, and she can sing – well. Brittany can't think of any songs about having two people you really love a lot and how you want to make out with both of them and if they could get along that would be great, but there are songs about _everything_ so she makes a mental note to look it up later.

When the song is over, Puck points at Santana, who's sitting in the back scowling. “And now IT IS ON, biotch!” He yells. Artie elbows him, but then nods seriously.

“Hold up, _hold up!”_ calls Mercedes. “Is this what I think it is? Are we having a song battle?”

Rachel gasps dramatically.

Brittany whips her head back and forth, looking between Santana and Artie. What's happening _now_? She nudges Tina and whispers “What are we doing?” and Tina whispers back, “Uh, they're competing for your affections, I think!” and wait. Things just got a _whole_ lot more complicated, Brittany thinks, nervously biting her bottom lip.

*

She catches up with Santana as Glee club lets out, leaving Artie behind without a word. She grabs Santana by the hand and pulls her down an empty hallway.

“What's going on?” she asks. “What are you doing?” That's pretty vague, Brittany realizes, but hopes Santana gets that she means this song...thing, because she's too freaked out to explain herself any better right now.

“I'm not doing _anything!”_ Santana protests, and Brittany shakes her head, because she's pretty sure that's not true. She's not sure _what_ has happened, exactly, but between the way the glee club kids were acting, and the way Santana is looking at her slightly apologetically right now, Brittany's starting to feel a little paralyzed by fear again.

Santana gives her a little smile, but then frowns when Brittany doesn't return it. She says, “Look, Britt, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to become, like, a THING that the whole glee club is interested in, but, well. Now that it's happening, I can't just back down. You _know_ how I feel about winning.”

Brittany does, Santana loves winning even more than she loves bling. But winning _what_ , exactly, Brittany doesn't get it. “What do I have to do, though?”

“Easy, Britt. You have to choose the winner.”

_Oh no._ Brittany is definitely feeling the panic creep in. Her feet feel cemented to the floor, and she sucks in a deep breath before whispering, “I can't-- how can I do that?”

Santana reaches out to Brittany, and wraps her arms around the blonde, pulling her close to her. “Look, Brittany, it's okay. You choose Artie, you stay with Artie. I'll only be a little mad. But if you choose me, we can go back to the way things used to be.” And with that, Santana rises up on her tiptoes to brush a soft kiss against Brittany's mouth. It's just a quick kiss, and Brittany knows it wouldn't have even happened if they hadn't been in the hallway alone, but it makes her feel a lot calmer anyway.

“I gotta go, Britt, I'll talk to you later, okay?” Santana squeezes her hands reassuringly, and then she's gone.

*

Later that night, Brittany curls up on her bad and phones Artie.

“Hey babe,” he says. “Are you coming over tonight?”

“Not tonight,” she says. “I've got some serious thinking to do. And also One Tree Hill is on.”

He sighs deeply. “You're going to break up with me, aren't you?”

“Nooooo,” Brittany says slowly, but thinks, _well, maybe._ And then she thinks _sorry, sorry!_ just in case Artie is telepathic. (There's no immediate response from him, though, so she figures her thoughts are safe.)

It's not that she really _wants_ to break up with him, he really is the best boyfriend she's ever had. Also the _only_ boyfriend she's ever had. Artie's the first boy who's wanted more than just sex from her, and she knows how much he likes her. Most boys stop calling after they get into your pants, (or if they do call, Santana says, “ugh, don't answer,” and Brittany always listens to her) but Artie never ignores her, and he likes to cuddle a lot.

But then there's _Santana_. Santana's been her best friend _forever,_ but they've been hanging out less since Brittany started dating Artie. Brittany misses her, misses getting football players to buy them Breadstix and misses dancing together in Brittany's bedroom with the music cranked way up and misses walking down the hallway with their pinkies linked, watching all the freshmen stare at them in awe. She considers Santana's words from earlier; Brittany can have her relationship with Artie, or go back to the way things used to be with Santana. As much as Brittany likes being in a relationship, likes being a girlfriend, she thinks she might give all that up to have Santana back and be real best friends again.

Artie and Brittany talk for a little bit longer, but Brittany feels bad and the thought of upsetting one of her two favorite people is making her stomach hurt, so finally she gets off the phone with Artie and lays on her bed feeling horrible. Lord Tubbington wanders into her room, jumps up on her bed next to her and says “mrow?”

“Stop _hounding_ me!” Brittany whines, and then immediately feels even worse. “Sorry,” she says to her cat, sitting up and scratching behind his ears like he likes. “It's been a hard day, but I shouldn't take it out on you. Look, I'll leave my diary unlocked for you tonight. I know how hard it is to hold the key with your paws.”

 

**Wednesday: Your Love is My Drug**

****

Things aren't any clearer the next day. The glee club is buzzing with excitement when Brittany walks into the room. She waves to Santana, who's sitting in the back, and then sits down next to Artie. He takes her hand and she squeezes it, feeling guilty even though she hasn't _done_ anything. Mr. Schue isn't there yet, but Rachel has taken over the whiteboard, writing 'Team Santana' on one side and 'Team Artie' on the other. Then, below the names, a series of columns of numbers, some of them negative, that's she's studying intently. “According to the Official American Song Battle Rules,” she says, “Artie is winning. I think.”

“BullSHIT,” Santana yells. “This is a made-up thing! There are no _rules!”_

Mercedes leans over to her and whispers, “There aren't, but Kurt and I made a fake wikipedia page and linked her to it. It's the only way she'll let us use up glee time for this! Don't worry, we put in a bunch of stuff in there to help you win. Like bonus points for cleavage and stuff.”

Santana adjusts her very low cut top and smirks.

“Oh, you _should_ get extra points for that,” Brittany leans back in her chair to interject. “It's important!”

“NO, Brittany!” Rachel shrieks, and Brittany falls right off of her chair, startled. “You have to remain an impartial judge. No talking to the contestants, they might try to _sway_ you.”

“That _was_ kind of my plan,” Santana mutters.

“Wait, I can't talk to my girlfriend?” Artie asks as Brittany picks herself up, and Rachel shushes him.

“Anyway, Santana,” Rachel chirps, “You're up! It's your turn!”

Santana glares at Rachel, but gets up out of her chair. The band starts to play as she makes her way to the front of the choir room, and Brittany recognizes the beat instantly, it's Your Love is My Drug by Ke$ha, one of her favorites. She leaps to her feet and joins Santana on the floor, shimmying around her as Santana sings. Rachel makes a disapproving face and gestures to Brittany to sit back down, but Brittany ignores her. Rachel said no swaying, and this song is definitely too fast for that.

Brittany bounces around a bit, and then when the chorus starts up, she launches into the silly dance routine her and Santana had made up the summer before. Then, in Santana’s backyard, it had been them fooling around to a Britney song, but it'll work with Ke$ha too. Santana falls into step with her almost immediately and Brittany hears her voice falter a tiny bit and she knows without looking that Santana is trying not to laugh. Brittany joins in singing with her and glances over to shoot her a huge smile. 

Their dance is, well, they were a little buzzed on tequila when they came up with it, blasting Britney Spears, barefoot in the grass and trying to make each other laugh. It's a mix of a million other little music video things, Bye Bye Bye hands and Slave 4 U gyrating and at one point Brittany crumps for a bit and Santana does this really stupid but kind of sexy version of the Macarena and by the time they get to the tango part at the end, Santana's blushing red and her eyes are wide like she can't _believe_ they're doing this in front of everybody. But she's smiling and her gaze is locked onto Brittany's and her voice doesn't waver, so Brittany presses her hand firmly into Santana's back and dips her low as the song ends.

Santana starts to laugh, really laugh, as the glee club claps uncertainly and Brittany pulls her back up, pressing their bodies together. This is the part where, well, where she usually kisses Santana, but with the glee kids and the sudden tenseness in Santana's body (and Artie, a distant voice in the back of her mind says, _remember Artie?_ ) she knows she can't do that. So she settles for quickly brushing their noses together and enjoys the tiny hitch in Santana's breathing that only she can hear.

“Well that was great!” calls Mr. Schue. He must've come in the room while Santana was singing, Brittany didn't even notice. Santana breaks away from her grip quickly, smoothing her dress down with her hands.

“Santana, you sounded _great._ But it didn't really meet the assignment I gave you and...well, maybe you guys aren't as focused as I thought you were.” He looks around the room, appearing slightly disappointed. “REGIONALS, you guys! We really need to crack down-- wait, Mercedes, what are you doing with your phone?”

Mercedes looks up. “I was recording! To send to Kurt. He is so sad he’s missing this.”

Right on cue, Mercedes' phone bleeps and she flips it open. “Kurt says he's on Team Santana!” she cheers. “And also,” she says, twisting around in her seat to address Santana as she makes her way back to her seat, “he says you were a bit flat on that last note, but the feeling made up for it.”

“I noticed that too!” Rachel pipes up helpfully. “I wasn't going to say anything, but since we're already on the topic...”

“Okay, okay, you guys!” Mr. Schue calls. “Let's go back to-- hey, what's on my whiteboard?”

*

Brittany is walking through the hallway between classes when Puck runs up and slings an arms around her shoulders.

“Britt-NAY!” He yells. “What's up, Miss Popular? How does it feel to have two hot babes fighting over you?”

_Not that great,_ Brittany thinks, and then... _wait._ “Did you just call Artie a babe?”

“Sure, I mean, in a manly friend way.” Puck shrugs at her. “Whatever. I have a kiddie pool if you want to borrow it for some Jello wrestling.”

“No, I don't think that's a good idea. Santana doesn't like to get sticky stuff in her hair.”

Puck looks like he _really_ wants to say something, but Lauren comes up to them just then and he shuts his mouth.

“Anyway, that's not what I want,” Brittany continues. “I don't _want_ people to fight, I want everybody to get along!”

“That's my favorite thing about you, Britt, how open you are to sharing. But in a case like this...you've never had two people fight over you, have you?” Puck asks.

Brittany shakes her head. She hates fighting, which is why sharing is obviously the way to go.

“Trust me, it is _awesome_. Are you sure about the Jello wrestling? It might change your mind.” Puck says, and Lauren elbows him in the chest.

“It doesn't feel awesome! I don't know _how_ to choose,” Brittany pouts. “In a perfect world, I could date both of them.”

“Well, how about this,” Lauren interjects. “What do you like more, what Santana has going on downstairs, or Artie?” She makes a little below-the-belt hand motion and Puck chuckles and raises his eyebrows suggestively.

Brittany bites her lip, thinking seriously, and then says brightly, “Oh, Santana for sure! She has a really nice rec room. I've never seen Artie's basement.”

Puck looks at her silently for a moment, and then shakes his head. “I can't help you, Britt. I think you're on your own for this one.”

“Yeah, sorry Pierce,” Lauren shrugs apologetically. “Maybe you should ask a magic 8 ball or something?”

That's pretty good advice, and Brittany _would,_ except last summer she dropped her Magic 8 Ball, and it leaked purple stuff all over her floor and then Lord Tubbington ate some and got really sick, so. Ever since then she's really doubted their ability to tell the future. She thinks she should maybe ask something more reliable, like a Ouija board or Ask Jeeves or something.

 

**Thursday: Damn Girl, You're So Fine**

****

On Thursday, Artie sings Justin Timberlake's Damn Girl to Brittany while Mike Chang raps and dances. Brittany sits next to Tina in the front row and they sing along, clapping and dancing in their seats. When the song is done and the applause has died down, Rachel gets up from her seat.

“One more, you guys!” she says, and Mr. Schue perks up from his spot near the piano.

“Oh, good,” he says. “Rachel, I'm sure you've been working on something wonderful we can add to our line-up for Regionals!”

“Well....actually,” Rachel looks a little sheepish, “this is just a song I've been wanting to sing for a while. For Finn.” Mr. Schue sighs and rubs a hand across his face.

Rachel steps up to the front of the room, and sings Are You Happy Now? By Michelle Branch, looking straight at Finn, who looks more than a little uncomfortable.

When she's finished, Lauren leans over to Puck and hisses, “Are you guys _all_ emotionally stunted freaks who can only express your feelings through songs?” and Puck says, “Fuck, pretty much, yeah. But you love it.” Lauren shrugs and nods, and kisses him on the cheek.

*

After glee is done, Brittany tells Artie she'll meet up with him later, and and then runs out of the glee room to catch up with Tina and Mike in the hallway.

“Still having trouble deciding?” Tina asks, reading the worry in Brittany's eyes. Brittany nods. “Don't worry, we've got your back.”

Mike nods. “We sure do! Go Team Artie!” he exclaims, and Tina shoots him a sharp look.

“Team Artie?” she says coldly. “ _We_ are Team Santana. And also Team Artie Was a Terrible Boyfriend and Brittany Should Break Up With Him if She Wants To.”

Brittany says, “I don't--” but Mike interrupts her.

“But,” he says quietly to Tina, “if Brittany breaks up with Artie, he'll be single again. What if he decides he wants you back?”

“Oh,” Tina says. “ _Oh_. Don't worry about that, duh. I'm on Team Santana AND Team Asian.” She stands up on her tiptoes to kiss him cutely.

“That's great for you guys,” Brittany says, “but what about me?” Team Asian shrugs in unison.

Brittany sighs; this sucks. “Can I join Team Asian?” she asks.

“Yes,” Mike says instantly and quietly, and then, more loudly, “what?”

Tina just stares at her.

“I would let you join Team Blond with me,” she points out accusingly, but then realizes, that gives her a _great_ idea! “Team Blond!” she says excitedly. “You guys, thank you so much. You're _super_ helpful.”

Mike and Tina look very confused, but Brittany ignores that and rushes away.

*

Brittany finds Quinn and Sam in the library, studying and sharing some apple slices out of a tupperware container. They are, as Santana would say, disgustingly vanilla. She sits down across from them and slaps her hands down on the table. “My blonds, my people. I need your advice.”

“Shhh,” Quinn says.

"It's really important!" Brittany whispers urgently.

Quinn shuts her textbook. Sam looks relieved. "Okay, Brittany. What's up?"

They're both looking at her, and Brittany realizes that since Sam dated Quinn and then Santana, and might be dating Quinn again (unless Quinn's maybe into Finn again, which she might be if Finn’s into _Rachel_ again) she should be very delicate about this conversation. (And maybe pay more attention to the other couples in glee club.)

"Okay," she starts. "It's like, have you ever had a favorite food, and you think you could eat that food every day and be totally satisfied with it? But then, like, you try a _new_ food and it's really good too? And you'd like to eat them both-" Here Brittany has to stop and concentrate really hard on not laughing. See, it's funny because she's talking about Santana, not food. "Mm, but - but the world says you can only love one food at once, so how do you choose?"

Quinn blinks at her. "Sorry, what was the question?"

" _How_?" Brittany asks again. "How do I know?"

"I'm really hungry," Sam says, looking sadly at the apple slices. And then his eyes widen. “Are we really only allowed one favorite food? Do I have to choose between burgers and pizza?”

Quinn shakes her head slightly, first at Sam, then directed at Brittany. “Brittany, I don’t think we can really help you with this.”

Brittany frowns. She’s about to point out that Quinn chose between Finn and Puck, so there _has_ to be a way, some sort of way to tell, but then she remembers that Quinn had a baby and that kind of made the choice for her, and they’re not supposed to talk about that.

Brittany thinks, if Santana got her pregnant, that would be a clear sign. But having a baby made Quinn really sad, so maybe she doesn’t want to do that.

“Did Puck and Finn ever wrestle in jello for you?” she asks Quinn instead.

Quinn looks at her silently for a long moment before shaking her head. (Sam lets out a tiny sigh of relief.)

Well maybe Quinn’s not the expert Brittany thought, then.

 

**Friday: Over the Edge, I’m Just Breathless**

****

“My turn!” Santana declares brightly in glee club, standing up in the back of the room.

Rachel looks up at her with a glare. “It's actually the duet today,” she says. “Didn't you get my text?”

“Got it, deleted it,” Santana says, waving her hand dismissively at Rachel.

“Yeah, she doesn't read mine either,” Artie says, rolling over to meet Santana at the front of the room. “Or else we'd have already agreed on a song.” Santana waves away that comment too.

“Well hey!” Brittany pipes up. “If the song is for me…..maybe I should get to chose it?”

Santana and Artie exchange a look, and then they both nod in agreement. It’s the nicest to each other Brittany’s ever seen them be; she beams.

“Okay, um, hm.” She bites her lip for a second, thinking hard. “Could you do, like, a hip-hop rendition of Itsy Bitsy Spider? I’d really be into that.”

Artie tilts his head, seemingly considering it seriously.

Santana smiles at her and says, “maybe something a little more top-fourty?”

Brittany grins at her and suggests the song she really wanted to hear.

“Love Bug by the Jo Bros then, pleeeease?” She blows kisses to each of them, and they both flush slightly, and _sure_ , she’s been stressed about choosing a winner, but she could maybe get used to this.

“This is getting weird,” Rachel says in her whisper-voice, which means probably students in the gym heard, but like, Brittany doesn’t remember _asking_ for Berry’s opinion, so she ignores it. Clearly Rachel’s bitter that in the Finn &Rachel relationship, he wears the pants and she does all the serenading. Well, Brittany’s got a no-pants deal with _two_ people _and_ she’s getting sung to all over the place, and it’s incredibly gratifying to know she’s kind of the winner of glee club, right now. So suck it, Rachel.

Santana and Artie sing her requested song to her, and sure, they seem to have competing ideas on which one of them is taking the lead, and Brittany definitely sees Santana trying to kick Artie’s chair more than once, but they sound really wonderful.

Why can’t it always be like this? Brittany wonders. If Santana and Artie could just get used to singing duets together, then maybe everybody could be happy with the way things are. They won’t, though, she can tell. Santana hits a high note and steps directly in front of Artie, and he narrows his eyes and rolls in front of _her_ , closely missing running over her foot. There’s another attempt at a kick, and Brittany sighs. Two people can be in sync, but it doesn’t seem to work with three people. (Five people, of course, can be _N Sync_ , but that’s a totally different thing, Brittany’s sure of it. Plus, she doesn’t want to find two more people to date; that would surely only add to her problems.)

 

**Saturday: Wait, They Don't Love You Like I Love You**

****

Brittany wakes up Saturday morning, so relieved that she doesn't have to think about any glee stuff or songs or choices today. Her relief only lasts a couple of hours, though, because Rachel phones her after lunch, her voice so loud and excited Brittany has to pull her cell phone away from her ear a little bit.

“Hey Brittany!” Rachel trills. “Hold on a sec, I'm connecting everybody!” There's a beep, and then Rachel says, “Okay, everybody there?”

A chorus of yes-es answer her, and then Brittany recognizes Santana's voice amongst all the others, complaining. “Berry, you better make this quick, I've been waiting on hold for like half an hour while you figured out how to get us all on one call.”

“Sorry, but I've come to realize _some_ people don't read my texts,” Rachel snipes, and then clears her throat, calling everybody's attention to her. “Okay, you guys, we're having an emergency glee meeting at my house tonight, 7 sharp. There will be snacks and refreshments!”

Somebody else on the phone – Britt thinks it might be Puck? - groans. “You _know_ it's the weekend, right? Can't this wait until Monday?”

“NO, Noah,” Rachel says. “Mr. Schue isn't going to keep letting us take up practice time for this song battle; you know Regionals are approaching--”

“We KNOW!” Everybody yells. Brittany closes her eyes. All these voices are starting to hurt her head. Rachel starts rattling off directions to her house, even though they've all been there before, and more people are talking, yelling over Rachel, and finally Brittany says, “Okay, bye you guys, BYE!” into her phone and hangs up.

*

Brittany shows up at Rachel's a little bit before 7, so they can talk before everyone gets there, and she gets roped into helping Rachel prepare some snacks for the glee meeting. Rachel wouldn't normally be someone she would ask for relationship advice, but she's running out of time and people to ask. Brittany lays crackers out on a plate as Rachel slices cheese into cubes and listens to Brittany explain her dilemma. “I just don't know what to do,” Brittany says. “What do you do when you have to make a decision?”

“Well, I usually make a list of pros and cons, and weigh all my options evenly. We could do that! Would you like me to go grab my notebook?”

“No, that's okay,” Brittany says sadly. She had hoped Rachel would have an easier solution, like one that didn't involve writing. That sounds too much like school for Brittany to get behind, and Rachel probably doesn't even have the right color of crayons.

“Aw, why are you so worried, Brittany?”

Brittany sighs. “Because no matter who I pick, somebody's feelings are going to get hurt. And what if I pick _wrong_?”

“I guess it's like your very own Sophie's choice,” Rachel says.

“Yeah, except I'm _Brittany_.” Brittany says, like _hello_ , that's obvious. God, Rachel can be weird sometimes.

Rachel gives her a strange look, but then the doorbell rings, and the rest of the glee club starts to arrive.

*

They set up in Rachel's basement, sitting in a semi-circle around the small stage. Rachel gets up and adjusts the mic stand. “Santana, Artie, please join me on stage,” she says formally. They do, Santana rolling her eyes. “Now, as we're all aware, the rules indicate--”

Quinn cuts her off. “You're not hosting American Idol, Rachel. We know what's happening here.”

Rachel looks hurt. “Well. Fine,” she says, and then turns to Santana and Artie. “Would you like me to start with a song to warm up the audience?”

The audience loudly declares that that is _not_ necessary.

Rachel sighs and thrusts the mic towards Artie. “Oh, just go, then.”

Artie takes the mic and cues up the karaoke machine, and U Got it Bad by Usher starts up. Brittany claps, and since nobody else seems to want to get up and dance, she stays sitting, but pulls out some _serious_ arm-choreography. And she doesn’t even smack anybody, for once! (Mercedes has to quickly duck out of her way a couple of times, but no casualties.)

When Artie's done, the group all claps and cheers, and then Santana takes the stage. “I don't even need music for this,” she says, turning off the machine.

“Ooooh, a capella. Get it, girl!” Mercedes cheers from her spot on the floor. Kurt's next to her, wearing one of his furry sweaters that always make Brittany want to pet him.

Santana’s all confidence as she lifts the mic to her mouth, voice strong and smooth for the first lines of the song. She glances out over the people watching her until she gets to the chorus, and then her eyes meet Brittany’s.

“Wait, they don’t love you like I love you. Wait, they don’t love you like I love you,” Santana sings, right to her, and Brittany can see the way her fingers are tightening around the mic, she can see it in Santana’s eyes that for all the strength in her voice, she’s really nervous.

Brittany can count on one hand the times she’s seen Santana scared. (When they auditioned for Cheerios. Their second kiss - which was kind of more like their first _real_ kiss. The time Brittany broke her leg and Santana held her hand the whole way to the hospital.)

She’s not super sure what’s scary about singing in Rachel’s basement, but remembering her broken leg makes her stand up and move to the stage. Santana shoots her a look as she approaches, but doesn’t stop singing, and Brittany grabs her hand gently, standing beside her and lacing their fingers together as Santana sings. She doesn’t know if it will help Santana the way it helped her in the ambulance, but she wants Santana to know she’s here.

Santana’s voice finally fades away after the last note, and Brittany frees her hand so she can clap, which she does enthusiastically until she notices that everybody is looking at her expectantly. . _Oh shit._

“Take the mic, Brittany!” Rachel calls.

Brittany extends her hand, looks at Artie smiling at her and then at Santana smiling at her and she just _can’t_. She finds herself jumping off the small stage and heading up Rachel's stairs instead, calling “Sorry! Sorry guys!” over her shoulder. She slips quietly out the front door and sits down on the front steps, taking a deep breath of the crisp evening air.

She sits silently for a few minutes and then the door opens behind her and Santana joins her on the steps.

“Hey,” Santana says, sitting down beside her. “Artie was going to come see how you were but I beat him up the stairs.” She laughs a little bit but then stops when she sees that Brittany is not amused. “Sorry,” she says, flipping her hair away from her face. “Britt, are you okay? Do you wanna come back inside?”

Brittany is _not_ okay. She's kind of angry all of a sudden, because everything was going _just fine_ without her having to choose between her best friend and her boyfriend, but now things are all confusing and she does not know what to do.

“I don't want to go inside,” she mutters, clenching her hands together tightly, “and I don't think I want to talk to you now either.”

Santana looks hurt, and a little bit shocked. “Britt, I'm sorry, I don't--”

“NO.” Brittany cuts her off. “I don't _like_ this. I don't _want_ to have to choose between having a boyfriend or being single with my best friend, it's not fair.”

Santana sits quietly for a moment, looking at Brittany with soft, sad eyes. “Oh Brittany,” she says finally, “I'm so sorry.”

Brittany thinks _great, that's great, we're_ all _sorry and I still don't know what to do,_ and then Santana continues, clasping her hands around one of Brittany's, forcing her to pay attention. “I thought you knew what I meant, I should have been more clear. That's all my fault. Britt, I don't want to be _single_ with you, I want to...to be together with you.”

“But you said-- you said you wanted things to be the way they were before.”

“Yeah, I meant like before when we didn't have boyfriends, just each other. So...like before, but _better_.”

“Oh,” Brittany says, thinking over this new information. It's some really _great_ information.

“That's what all my songs were about, Britt, weren't you listening?” Santana asks, bumping her shoulder up against Brittany's. “I tried to pick songs with easy lyrics for you.” She's grinning so Brittany knows she's making fun of her but not really.

Brittany smiles back, finally feeling the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach start to fade. “I tried,” she says, because she really did, “but you're so hot when you sing that sometimes I forget to listen.”

“All my songs,” Santana continues, smiling shyly, “they were about you. How I feel about _you_. I don't want you to be _just_ my best friend, I want you to be my...girlfriend.” She says the last part very quietly, even though they're alone on Rachel's porch. But at least she's finally said it. Brittany beams at her, proudly.

“I would love to be your girlfriend, Santana,” she says quietly, happily.

Santana lets go of Brittany's hand for a second, but then links their pinkies together tightly. “Really?” she sighs. She sounds scared, for reasons Brittany can't even imagine. Santana being her girlfriend is like, the least-scary thing Brittany can think of.

“I've been waiting forever for you to ask me,” Brittany replies honestly. There are still steps they're going to have to take, like, she should probably break up with Artie now, and that's going to be hard. And Brittany has a feeling it'll still take Santana a while to be okay with the idea of the whole school knowing about them, but they can start with just the glee club, maybe. She's okay with waiting a bit more, as long as her and Santana are waiting _together_.

“So,” Santana says, squeezing Brittany's hand tighter. “Are we good?” her voice sounds shaky, like she might be on the verge of crying.

Brittany leans over and presses a quick kiss against her cheek. “We are so good,” she says firmly, and then she gets the _best_ idea. “Wait, not quite yet. I have a song I want to sing for _you_. But not here, in private.”

“Okay,” Santana smiles. “Do you wanna go back inside for a bit? Can I dump Artie for you?”

 

**Saturday (Later): You, You, You, I Want You**

****

Later, back at Brittany's house, Brittany pushes Santana down on to her bed and turns on her CD player. She's made sure to pick a song that she can dance to _and_ that has lyrics that explain how she feels. Kelly Clarkson starts to play, and Brittany sings along, dancing around for Santana. She takes off her clothes too, but not until the end, because she wants Santana to pay attention to the lyrics.

She pauses near the end, after she's thrown her shirt across the room and is leaning over Santana, just to check. Songs can be really confusing, after all. “You get why I'm singing you this song, right?”

Santana laughs, wrapping her arms around Brittany's waist and tugging her in closer, her hands sliding up Brittany's back to unhook her bra. “I get it, Britt Britt,” she confirms. “The message is crystal clear.”

And Brittany nods, satisfied. She doesn't want any more confusion, not about this.


End file.
